Dave Kaiser owns and operates McDonald's restaurants in Cranbrook, B.C., and Fernie, near the Alberta border — two towns less than an hour's drive from each other, but with workforce challenges that stand a world apart. In Cranbrook, Kaiser has no trouble finding local staff. But in Fernie, home to about 5,000 people and five coal mines, Kaiser said he's so desperate for workers he would "hire virtually anybody who comes in my door, if they've got a pulse."